The diagnostic values of serum HE4 levels in epithelial ovarian carcinoma

Objective To explore the diagnostic values of serum Human Epididymis Protein 4(HE4)levels in epithelial ovarian carcinoma.Methods Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay(ELISA)technique was applied to detect serum HE4 levels in healthy women and patients of benign ovarian tumor,borderline ovarian tumor,ovarian carcinoma between December 2007 and December 2008 in Second Affiliated Hospital of Hebei Medical University.The diagnostic values of serum HE4 levels were analyzed.Results In healthy women,benign ovarian tumor,borderline ovarian tumor and preoperative ovarian carcinoma,the serum HE4 median levels were 41.10,43.98,65.21,260.90 pmol/L respectively.The HE4 levels in the preoperative ovarian carcinoma group were significantly higher than others(P0.05).However,there is no significant difference among the healthy women,benign ovarian tumor and borderline ovarian tumor group(P0.05).In ovarian carcinoma group,the median postoperative HE4 level was 124.32 pmol/L,which was significantly lower than preoperative(P0.05).In ovarian carcinoma group,the preoperative serum HE4 levels was related to pathological types and the concentration of CA125.When ovarian carcinoma group was compared with healthy women and benign tumor groups,the HE4 assay in receiver operating characteristic-area under the curve(ROC-AUC)was 0.960 and the diagnostic specificity was the best when the HE4 assay at the level of 107.15pmol/L.When HE4 set point of 107.15pmol/L or 150pmol/L,the diagnostic sensitivity was no statistically difference compared with HE4 and CA125 test alone.The combined assay of HE4+CA125 was better than CA125 test alone,while HE4 single test sensitivity is no less than the combined assay.Conclusion Serum HE4 levels cou1d be regarded as a biomarker of the ovarian carcinomas,which could improve the diagnostic rates of ovarian carcinomas when combined with CA125.